Fuudo Says Crowd Reaction Influenced His Character Choice

Fuudo's stunning Blink Respawn win came predominantly through Ed, but in the latter stages of the tournament from the loser's semi-final, all the way to the Grand Final win, he used a lot of Dee Jay. 

When asked about it in an interview following his win, Fuudo said that the energy of the crowd was fantastic and that it went a long way in helping him win. He also noted that they seemed to cheer when he used Dee Jay more than when he used Ed, and this made him want to play harder using Dee Jay. 

Dee Jay is a Caribbean character hailing from Jamaica and one of the few men of color in Street Fighter, so for a country like the Dominican Republic, this was a big deal for them, and there were several cheers and even a pair of maracas for Fuudo to use with each win. 

Fuudo's wife, Yuka Kuramochi, believes that her husband's win is partly as a result of joining team REJECT and she says the offline training with Tokido, LeShar, and Daigo, helped him immensely. 

Fuudo has won Topanga and now Blink Respawn back-to-back, which is pretty impressive. 

On a broader scale, this is also the first tournament in about 6 years where Japanese players took the top three spots. 

Regarding the leaderboard for Capcom Cup qualification, Momochi's strong performance in both Blink Respawn and Evo Japan means that he now tops the table, overtaking Ryukichi and placing himself in a strong position to qualify from the leaderboard. 

The top 6 players will qualify for Capcom Cup, and those spots are currently taken by:

• 1. Momochi
• 2. Ryukichi
• 3. Itabashi Zangief
• 4. EndingWalker
• 5. Moke
• 6. Zhen